Nine Paths of Asura-Original Wuxia

Chapter 30 No Longer So Soft...

"Thank you, glad to see someone who appreciates good information. The tournament kiddo, if you were thinking of entering, don't deny it I can see it in your eyes, is rigged. A little kid like you wouldn't have been able to get past the prelims initially, but, even if by some miracle, your opponents got diarrhea and all left, you might as well give up now. This tournament is in fact a hand-off! The king of Dracherus has been harassed of late by various powers, don't ask me why I don't know what they'd want with this city. In order to deal with this, the king has agreed to align himself with the Nero Sect. As such, the winner of the tournament will receive this core, and in fact, the king will present his daughter for marriage to seal the alliance. This tournament is really a public display so that the inner disciples of the Nero Sect can compete to see who will gain the core and marry into royalty. Each inner disciple has assess to martial arts and cultivation methods which a commoner like you can't even dream of. Save yourself the time and buy a seat in the stands instead of entering, at least you'll get to see something good instead of spending the day knocked out by some cultivator's spiritual pressure."

Lineir thanked the bartender for the information and walked away.

"If you ever need any more information, just come back here, I'm the best dealer around kid. Your silver is safe with me hehehe." Lineir simply shrugged, while he had felt great pain inside, the urge to cough up blood at the loss of his precious silver had passed. The information he had gotten was truly more valuable. Mei was ecstatic,

"Kiddo, this is excellent. You absolutely must enter this tournament, even if you lose you will only have gained valuable experience in fighting cultivators. These inner disciples may seem intimidating to ordinary men like that bartender, but I would estimate that this Nero Sect's disciples absolutely cannot compare to you who has the great me to teach you. While you should not underestimate them, they have had a lifetime of training, your methods aren't ordinary like theirs and you can make up for talent and time with unorthodox techniques. It would be good to shake up this place a little, you've spent too much time away from civilization. And if you were to win this mythical beast core, I'll teach you something good as well. Work hard and try not to embarrass me as your teacher." 

Lineir quickly headed out to find the tournament registration. Fortunately, it was quite easy, everyone knew that the tournament was to be held at the city training grounds, and in fact, Lineir saw several posters leading the way. Had he been paying attention, rather than rushing to find lodging and change his clothes, he probably would have noticed them earlier.

"Register here, pay the entrance fee and receive your number and you're good to go kid, enjoy the tournament!" The pale faced soldier took one look at Lineir and snickered, he was clearly expecting Lineir to get beat up. Lineir, paled terribly, and the soldier taking this as fear, actually burst out laughing, 

"Relax, killing in this tournament is forbidden, and unless some sect cultivator accidentally doesn't control his force, you won't die, though you may not be able to walk for some time hahaha!" Little did he know that Lineir, after his time in the wilderness didn't fear these spoiled inner sect cultivators at all. Rather,

"God**** an entrance fee? Do I need to sell myself on the streets to some old man just to enter this tournament. At this rate, I'm so hungry I probably wouldn't even care, the pain in my stomach is all I can think about!" In the end, Lineir handed in his last silver to the soldier as his stomach grumbled and registered. 

"Now I have to win...that sack of gold is ****** mine!"

After spending the night cultivating, Lineir got up incredibly irritated. He hadn't had enough money for a meal after all these expenses, and elemental energy might keep him from starving to death, but his stomach didn't really care. It kept groaning all the same. He quickly headed down, and while the bartender wasn't looking snagged a plate of leftovers at an empty table on the way out.